Charlton nr. Malmesbury

There is a July 1790 ink-wash-on-paper drawing of this font by Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (1733-1794) in the British Library collections [Shelfmark: Additional MS 15547 - Item number: f. 146]. This would be the font reported in The Gentleman's magazine (issue of March 1806: 211) reports on a 'Topographical Tour in Wiltshire… 1805': "The font is circular, with two mouldings or wreaths of buds, and at the sides niches." Noted and illustrated in Buck (1950) with reference to the knob decoration on the font at Stanton St. Quintin [NB: but there is no similarity between the two: Charlton has ball motif, whereas Stanton has very large octagonal knobs]. Classed in Buck (1950) as one of a group of "Middle Norman circular Fonts, c. 1100-1150" in Wiltshire. Noted in Pevsner & Cherry (1975): "Font. Norman, circular, with a band of pellets and two bands of rope." The Victoria County History (Wiltshire, vol. 14, 1991) notes: "The chancel and the nave and its four-bay arcade and its aisle were built in the late 12th century. [...] The church [...] contains a late 12th-century font reset on a 17th-century base."